


Cover for You

by ineedagoodusername



Category: Given (Anime)
Genre: Established Relationship, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Grief/Mourning, Kissing, M/M, Song Lyrics
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-27
Updated: 2020-07-27
Packaged: 2021-03-06 03:27:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,293
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25556590
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ineedagoodusername/pseuds/ineedagoodusername
Summary: “Do you want to do a cover today, Mafuyu?”“Cover?” asked the coral-haired boy, puppy-dog eyes blinking up at his boyfriend in question.---Uenoyama hates playing covers of contemporary music. They're boring in terms of technique, skillset, and most of all, feeling.But there was one song that reminded him of Mafuyu.
Relationships: Satou Mafuyu/Uenoyama Ritsuka
Comments: 4
Kudos: 119





	Cover for You

**Author's Note:**

> I watched/read all of Given in one go yesterday, and knew that I had to write a fic about it. I never thought of myself as someone who would enjoy writing lyric!fics, circa FF.net days, as I only started writing fanfiction a few months ago, but the song and the show/manga just resonated with me.
> 
> The song is Passionfruit, but specifically the Hayley William's cover of it.

**_Passionate from miles away_ **

Ritsuka Uenoyama was no fool to the baggage that Mafuyu Sato carried. No matter how much he so badly wanted to protect him, the guitarist knew his partner had pains that he couldn’t share the burden with. Instead, he could only stand beside Mafuyu, and hold him when necessary.

“You see, I…” He had confessed to the raven-haired boy once. “Had someone I truly, really loved.”

He saw that love. Or rather, he heard it. That was the amazing thing about music, it hit you harder than words did.

Every time Mafuyu sang, Uenoyama couldn’t help the eerie chills that crawled up his skin. His voice was husky, deep yet light, like blown glass. But the feelings behind it were heavy, reminding him that the pink-haired boy was still haunted. Though he had days when he felt the bitter taste of jealousy about the ghost of Mafuyu’s past, Uenoyama accepted that he wasn’t his first love.

Pain made wonderful music. Uenoyama just wished the cost wasn’t so high.

“Mafuyu, you’re not hitting that set of chords correctly.” noted Uenoyama.

“Oh. Hm…”

It was a balmy Friday Autumn afternoon, the overcast sky cloaking everything in grey. The two high school students were the only ones in the studio. Due to a coworker at the convenience store calling in sick, Akihiko wasn’t able to join them. As for Haruki, the bassist mentioned something about finishing a research paper for one of his university courses.

“Here. Watch.” said the raven-haired boy. 

Very slowly, he strummed the chords together in a combination of finger picking and down-down-upward strokes. He saw those round eyes sleepily watch his hands move across the guitar strings, but Uenoyama knew better. His boyfriend always had the most raw emotions lying underneath, strong currents beneath the calm surface of the ocean. 

Mafuyu always paid attention when it came to music. He was always passionate that way.

**_Passive with the things you say_ **

About half an hour into practice, it was clear that the vocalist’s heart was somewhere else. His eyes always looked far away, but today the guitarist wondered if he would ever come back from where he was. Eyes were windows to the soul, right? 

Throughout the guitar session, Uenoyama had asked him if he was alright or if he wanted to take a break, but Mafuyu always declined. 

However, they could only practice unproductively for so long. Frustration began to well up from inside both the boys as they plucked and strummed at their instruments, but could not produce the sounds. 

Uenoyama figured they would have to try something different today, or else they would start to bicker.

“Do you want to do a cover today, Mafuyu?”

“Cover?” asked the coral-haired boy, puppy-dog eyes blinking up at his boyfriend in question.

“Mm.”

There were quite a few songs that he could see Mafuyu covering well. After all, his voice had a style that could fit not only alternative rock, but also indie or indie rock, and some styles of pop. However, he had a particular song in mind. 

Staring intensely into his boyfriend’s face, Uenoyama pondered on whatever Mafuyu was thinking. His partner did listen to all the CDs in that box they borrowed from Akihiko, though the raven-haired boy didn’t recall Mafuyu actually singing anything from the songs that did contain vocals. 

Maybe he wasn’t very fond of covers? Or maybe he stuck at the next song that he wanted to make? The boy was always so determined to convey his feelings properly. It was a symptom of the disquiet

“Uenoyama-kun… what’s a cover?”

“Ack!”

Right. Mafuyu could also be so passive. 

Sometimes he forgot about that side of his boyfriend. One couldn’t help it, especially after hearing him sing in person.

“It’s when you play or sing someone else's song.” explained Uenoyama, after recovering from the initial shock. Really, why was he surprised? Just a few weeks ago, Mafuyu didn’t even know what a  _ band _ was. 

“Someone else’s?”

“Yeah. Remember when Haruki-san played the bass notes for that one song by  _ Kiryu _ ?”

“Mm.”

“Well, that’s an example of a cover.”

“Okay.”

One word answers today. Mafuyu was really somewhere else.

It broke Uenoyama’s heart sometimes, to see his boyfriend be so close yet so far away. They could be shoulder-to-shoulder, holding hands, yet grief set him apart. Although he knew that loss had no expiry date, sometimes he wanted to be angry at the helplessness that washed over him, when he saw the deep hurt in Mafuyu’s tired eyes. His love didn’t deserve it.

Despite all the pain, Mafuyu was still so beautiful.

Even with the harsh lighting of the studio against his face, Uenoyama could only think about how pretty his boyfriend was. Interested, the pink-haired boy leaned close, resting his cheek against Uenoyama’s shoulder as the guitarist pulled out his phone to show the song he wanted Mafuyu to sing.

“Eh? It’s in English.” noted the vocalist in surprise.

“Yup.”

They watched the YouTube video. More accurately, Mafuyu watched the video while Uenoyama watched Mafuyu. 

It was of a platinum blonde American woman singing softly to a gentle melody and catchy bass notes. Apparently, it was this artist’s cover of another song, which should have lost Uenoyama almost instantly. But, there was something so fragile in the way she sang it.

“She sounds so sad.” said the vocalist, rather quietly.

Uenoyama nodded. 

“She reminded me of you.”

**_Passin’ up on my old ways_ **

Quite frankly, Uenoyama hated playing covers. It wasn’t that he disliked contemporary pop songs, but they were so boring to play. Lately, mainstream music consisted of the same major chords, just in different arrangements.

What he disliked even more than guitar method was the artificial feelings that came along with the songs, whatever language the song was.

It caused him to become lackluster in his music, and that affected his own passion. Eventually he would just drop the project, from his own compelling need for honesty.

However, feelings were universal the same way music was. The artist’s voice compelled Uenoyama to look up the lyrics, and when he saw them, he went quiet. Every line, every quavering note- it all reminded him of Mafuyu.

The melody was relatively simple to learn, a simple four note chord to pluck for the main guitar and another set of chords for the rhythm for the second. The raven-haired boy showed his boyfriend an easy strumming pattern, as Mafuyu still wasn’t as skilled at picking up fingerpicking quickly.

“This song would be sick to play live with a bass.” said Uenoyama, as he practiced the chord progression.

“Uwah, it sounds like the video already…” gasped Mafuyu.

“Y-Yeah..”

Face heating up, Uenoyama looked at his adorable, awestruck partner. God, why the hell was Mafuyu so cute? When he was fascinated by something, his eyes got so wide and his mouth would form a wide ‘o’, like an anime character. He loved that side to him.

“You’re so cool, Uenoyama-kun.” said Mafuyu softly, as he strummed the notes that harmonized the main ones being played.

“No. This song is just easy to play.” responded Uenoyama, frowning at the Japanese translated lyrics of the song he managed to find online.

“I thought you didn’t like playing covers?”

“You’re right. I don’t.”

Rather than asking, Mafuyu looked at the guitarist questioningly.

It was just like him to not say anything. Based on conversations with the other band members, Uenoyama was well aware that communication wasn’t the vocalist’s best forte. However, upon reflecting on their own relationship, he knew good communication wasn’t his best skill, either. 

‘ _ A recipe for disaster if you don’t put effort _ ,’ described Akihiko one time. 

He wasn’t wrong. With one boy choosing to retreat into his internal world and the other one choosing anger, they would fall apart at bumps on the road. Having learned the hard way, they knew how much they had to work twice as hard in order to get their messages across.

So, Uenoyama knew he had to put the groundwork in. And, he trusted Mafuyu would do the same.

“ _ Listen, seeing you got ritualistic. _

_ I’m cleansing my soul of addiction _

_ ‘cause we’re falling apart _ .”

Uenoyama sang, as he played the chords. Unsure of why he chose to sing, the raven-haired boy internally shrugged it off and looked at the translated lyrics on his phone.

He wasn’t the best singer, but he also hated covers, so.

A flash of something reflected on Mafuyu’s face for a moment. Uenoyama couldn’t quite identify his boyfriend’s expression. It was too complex. However, one thing was for certain: Mafuyu felt it, whatever it was.

“ _ Tension _

_ Between us just like fences _

_ Well, you got issues I won’t mention for now _

_ ‘Cause we’re falling apart _ ”

Once again, goosebumps erupted all over Uenoyama’s skin at the husky sound of his boyfriend’s singing. He kept fingering the notes, watching his pink-haired lover lose himself in the borrowed words.

If companies found ways to bottle up Mafuyu’s sound, he would buy it everyday to drink and let it consume him.

“ _ Passionate from miles away _

_ Passion with the things you say _

_ Passin’ up on my old ways _ ”

Together, both of them sang the chorus. At first, Uenoyama tried to stop singing. He could carry a tune but that was it. He couldn’t actually create magic from his voice, that’s why he knew he had to bring Mafuyu into the band.

But then, he look one look at his boyfriend’s eyes and knew he had to keep going. Among the many emotions he could see, Uenoyama could easily identify the desperation. Mafuyu did not want to be alone, not with this song.

So, Uenoyama dropped all of his bad habits and accompanied him to the end.

**_But I can’t blame you, no, no, no_ **

When the two high schoolers finished the song, the subsequent silence in the studio became unbearably deafening. Uenoyama could only stare at Mafuyu, unable to breathe from the aftermath of a good practice performance.

“Uenoyama-kun,” said Mafuyu, breaking the silence. “Are we falling apart?”

Stunned, the raven-haired boy could only look at his lover. Mafuyu’s eyes were clouded over, not unlike the sky that hung above them outside the studio. Uenoyama wanted to reach out to them, to Mafuyu, and press him tight against his body, but there was a reason why clouds hung in the sky.

Were they falling apart?

“No…?” replied Uenoyama, painfully aware of the shakiness of his voice. “Why?”

“The lyrics said it. They were sad. I felt it in you when you sang.”

Pain. Once again, pain was present in Mafuyu’s face, in his eyes. A terrible, nauseating feeling bubbled up from within the guitarist, causing his hands to go clammy. He felt so horrible, making his love look that way. Feel that way.

Reaching out, Uenoyama wrapped his arms around Mafuyu and pulled him as close as he could without bumping their guitars too hard. The dull sound of the instruments thudding together echoed in his ears as he pressed a gentle kiss against his boyfriend’s face.

Yeah. He was sad.

He was sad that he couldn’t do anything more except stand close as Mafuyu suffered, mourning a person he knew he would never see again. Jealousy should have eaten Uenoyama up, knowing that Mafuyu’s heart had someone else first. But how could he stay jealous? He loved the boy, and love meant supporting someone whose grief kept a distance he wasn’t quite sure how to cross.

“No,” He whispered, breathing in the comforting scent of Mafuyu. “We’re not falling apart. I don’t want us to. You’re just so far away, sometimes. I just wish I could help you. Stop the hurting, even for a moment.”

Uenoyama felt slender arms slowly wrap around his back.

“But you do, Uenoyama-kun.” said Mafuyu, voice muffled by the crook of Uenoyama’s neck and shoulder. “We have fun, like singing this song was. We make good music.”

“Mafuyu, I-”

“You’re with me, Uenoyama-kun. You’re here.” continued the boy gently. “I can’t help being in my own head. I’m sorry. It must have hurt you.”

Copying an action that was done to him prior, Mafuyu pressed the palms of his hands against Uenoyama’s cheeks. However, his touch was softer, more loving. This time, he also leaned forward and pressed a kiss on the raven-haired boy’s mouth.

“No, no, no-  _ I’m _ the one that’s sorry, Mafuyu.” said Uenoyama, shocked. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you think our relationship was falling apart. I just… I really wanted to protect you. We should have talked instead of me just playing a stupid so-”

“Shh.” The other boy just smiled, pressing a finger to his lips. “You protect me all the time, Uenoyama-kun. Ritsuka.”

Ritsuka. Mafuyu used his given name. Did he just die and go to heaven? Even after hurting someone he loved?

“You’re hurting,” sad Uenoyama, trailing his fingers down Mafuyu’s arm. “I want to help you, you know?”

“Silly,” chided the coral-haired boy. For once, his eyes were in the present, in all their halo-rung sadness. Mafuyu must have been the reason why the word holy was in melancholy. “It’s probably not going to go away for a long time. You’re doing all that you can already.”

“I guess, it’s just- I- I’m still sorry. We should have communicated better.”

“I know you are. We’re trying our best. I love you for it.”

“I love you too, Mafuyu.”

With that, he closed the gap between them, kissing his boyfriend tenderly. The guitarist couldn’t blame Mafuyu for being afraid and feeling so far away. His boyfriend's grief wouldn’t be healed for a long time, but he would choose to cover for him every step of the way. 

**Author's Note:**

> Grief in realtionships is a difficult topic to write. I do appreciate Given for handling it so beautifully, and hope that I was able to write it respectfully.
> 
> Please leave a kudos/comment, if you wish!


End file.
